I was on my way home for lunch when I saw the plane in the distance, south of Lexington. I never made it close enough to see what the banner said, but I recalled seeing a similar sight over Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tenn., where the Tennessee Volunteers play football. I attended several games growing up, and I hadn’t thought of those planes in a long time. A similar sight can often be seen at the beach, too.

Many of us have special memories that serve as touchstones to our childhoods. I indulged one last week during vacation when I traveled to Graham to view an art exhibit made entirely out of LEGO blocks.

LEGOs remain probably the favorite toy from my childhood. My sister and I spent hours and hours building spaceships, cities and other structures with the multi-colored blocks. We even named some of the people LEGOs and created stories that we played out.

One of the greatest things about LEGOs was the way it stimulated the mind. I recall receiving boxes of various shaped blocks and special pieces for Christmas. That guaranteed hours upon hours of enjoyment.

I passed my love of LEGOs down to my two sons, although the toy has changed a lot over the past 35 years. You can still find tubs of free-form blocks, but today many of the boxes contain specific patterns. A favorite of my sons’ was the “Star Wars” LEGOs; each of their bedrooms contained numerous models of various ships featured in the movie series.

Putting the sets together offered some wonderful father-son time. But we followed instructions in a booklet, rather than letting our imaginations determine what we would build. And while they played with them for a while, they often soon landed on a shelf where they began to gather dust. A few years ago, we bagged them all up and stored them in a giant plastic container in our outbuilding.

But some of the old magic remained. The boys did have some tubs of free-form blocks, and they would use these to build structures of their own design. A favorite activity was attaching wheels to solidly built vehicles, and then racing them toward each other to see which would survive the crash. A few blocks ended up with chipped pieces, but I figured it was worth it for the entertainment and creativity.

While visiting my parents a few weeks ago, I caught a segment on “CBS Sunday Morning” about Nathan Sawaya, an artist who uses LEGOs to create works of art. Think of sculptures made entirely out of LEGOs. I was fascinated, and my excitement increased when I learned his exhibit, “The Art of the Brick,” was on display at the Alamance County Arts Council in Graham.

The exhibit didn’t disappoint. Sawaya’s best-known sculpture is one called “Yellow,” in which a figure looks like he’s ripping his chest open. It greeted me just after I entered the house that houses the exhibit in Graham.

Page 2 of 2 - Other works were equally impressive. Some were full-size while others were smaller. One showed Mount Rushmore made out of gray bricks; another looked like giant Crayola crayons. I liked the three-dimensional works the best, although others used nothing but flat LEGO pieces and could be hung on a wall. The exhibit also featured a short video segment about Sawaya and how he came to be a LEGO artist (he used to be a lawyer in New York City making a six-figure salary).

I’ve shared my excitement about the exhibit with others, as I know many people have a love of LEGOs. I have even considered digging out some of my sons’ old LEGOs sets and building something myself. I doubt it would look anything like Sawaya’s works, but it would offer a pleasant experience that reminds me of fun times from the past.

The exhibit prompted me to do one other thing that was out of character: make an impulse purchase. I bought a “The Art of the Brick” T-shirt in the gift store as I left the exhibit. Since the exhibit was free, I figured buying a souvenir was one way I could show my support to the Alamance County Arts Council for bringing such a wonderful exhibit to the Piedmont.

“The Art of the Brick” will remain on display through October, so you still have time to make the short trip on Interstate 85 North to Graham. I promise you won’t be disappointed.

Chad Killebrew is executive editor of The Dispatch in Lexington. He can be reached at 249-3981, ext. 215, or at chad.killebrew@the-dispatch.com.